Piers appears at Leveson today. But what did he tell MPs in 2003?

When the Leveson Inquiry wraps up its public hearings, Piers Morgan’s evidence today is more than likely to rank among its more memorable sessions. And while there is much interest in Morgan’s admission that he listened to Heather Mills’ voicemail, could the former Mirror editor’s arrogant performance at a 2003 DCMS Select Committee also be instructive?

If cornered by Leveson’s senior counsel, we may yet see Morgan resort to the swashbuckling hubris of his appearance in a DCMS session on privacy, in which he claimed that:

the press should be “congratulated” on its ethical approach to privacy issues …

behaved “with sensitivity” towards war widows …

and “absolutely responsibly” towards Princes William and Harry

What may really land Morgan in hot water, however, are claims relating to his personal knowledge of privacy:

“I just don’t believe that they’re intruded in an unjustified way. I don’t see evidence that that happens at the Mirror. I didn’t see evidence that that happened on the other papers that I’ve worked on.”

“If there are particular grievances about how the Daily Mirror has behaved, and I say that our record in this area is exemplary, exemplary. I don’t say this because we somehow got away with this, I say this because we operate the [PCC] Code of Practice effectively and seriously.”